CGIAR Fund

Best Bet for Sustainably Reducing Poverty and Hunger Spending on agricultural research offers high rates of return of about 40% — higher than any other development investment — making it one of the best bets for eradicating global poverty and hunger. This is particularly true for research conducted by CGIAR: For every $1 invested, at least $9 worth of additional food is produced in developing countries. But more important than the high rates of return are what investments translate into: concrete, positive change in people’s lives.

For more than 4 decades, CGIAR and its many partners have transformed the lives of hundreds of millions of people across the developing world through the tangible impacts of agriculture research. In Southeast Asia, for example, farmers harvest an additional $1.46 billion worth of rice each year thanks to high-yielding varieties, lifting farm families out of poverty and contributing to regional food security.  Few investments, if any, make more economic and humanitarian sense than do investments in CGIAR.

Research for Results
The current CGIAR Research Programs are more focused on impact than ever before to ensure that research translates into results on the ground. To receive financial support from the CGIAR Fund, programs must set out their expected achievements and provide verifiable targets against which progress can be measured and monitored. By linking funding to results, the Fund gives donors better value for money and ensures that every dollar received will deliver more and better benefits for some of the world’s poorest people.

CGIAR’s Current Research Portfolio: Examples of Potential Impact
Fifteen large, crosscutting research programs are driven by their expected impact on four critical development outcomes: reduced rural poverty, increased food security, improved nutrition and health, and sustainably managed natural resources.

Stories of Change: The Real-life Impacts of CGIAR Research Ethiopia: Sheep-Fattening Transforms Lives Rwanda: Climbing Beans - an Upward Spiral Peru: New Potato Varieties Prove Vital for the Survival of Mountain Communities Mali: Sowing the Seeds of Success  India: Research Supports Groundwater Policy Makers Burundi: Women of War Turn to Rice Zimbabwe: When Drought-Tolerant Maize Faces Excessive Rain

40 Findings on the Impacts of CGIAR Research, 1971-2011 As outlined in this brief, CGIAR’s success stories include achievements not just in developing improved crop varieties, but also in strengthening the capacity of national partners, increasing livestock and fish productivity, developing better farming methods, improving natural resources management and providing incisive policy analysis, among other accomplishments.

The CGIAR at 40 and Beyond: Impacts that Matter for the Poor and the Planet   The collaborative work of the CGIAR and its partners around the world has resulted in development impacts on a scale that is without parallel in the international community. The lessons learned from past successes can point the way to making major new strides toward alleviating poverty and hunger.